Ryan Seelbach and Jeff Sunderland, who brought you Takoda in Shaw, will turn the recently closed 1905 (on 9th Street NW) into Cortez, named after the Sea of Cortez on the Baja peninsula. Cortez will feature a year-round rooftop tequila bar with culinary complements such as fish tacos. Both the dining room and the rooftop bar will seat 40. Expect colorful murals and cacti. A March opening is targeted.
Chantilly, Virginia, is hot now. Wegmans plans to open there in August, at the Field at Commonwealth, a huge retail development at Route 28 and Westfields Boulevard. The store will be joined by other food-service concepts, including Cava Mezze, Chipotle and Mellow Mushroom. Blackwall Hitch will replace The Green Turtle in Chantilly Shopping Center. Both brands are owned and operated by Mid-States Management Group. Blackwall Hitch also has locations in Alexandria, Virginia; Annapolis, Maryland; and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
C-C-CHANGES: All five Ted’s Bulletin restaurants — located in Capitol Hill, on 14th Street NW, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and in Reston and Merrifield, Virginia — are now owned by Steve Salis, cofounder of &pizza. Salis Holdings, also the owner of Dupont Circle’s iconic Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café and a co-owner of Adams Morgan’s Federalist Pig, bought the Ted’s restaurants from Matchbox Food Group with the help of JPB Capital Partners.
Raynold Mendizabal, chef-owner of Urban Butcher in Silver Spring, Maryland, plans to open a second restaurant in Grosvenor Americas’ new mixed-use development on the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue. The full-service restaurant should be open next summer.
CHEF UPDATE: Elisabeth Devon Capili was named executive chef at the Arlington Capital View Renaissance Hotel. Denmark-based Joe & The Juice will open at 1500 K St. NW in January, where a CVS used to be. The company — which has one unit in Bethesda, Maryland, 20 in the U.S. and 200 throughout Europe — is also scouting locations at the Yards and at 17th and I Streets NW.
JUST OPENED: Jenny Feldt, formerly of Le Diplomate, and Lukas Smith, formerly of Cotton & Reed, have opened Ampersand, a pop-up bar under Smoke & Barrel on 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, Thursday through Sunday night only. In addition to cocktails, they serve beer and whiskey from the upstairs barbecue restaurant … Moreland’s Tavern opened in the Swampoodle space at 5501 14th St. NW with chef-partner Emily Baran at the helm. It’s from the folks who brought you Boundary Stone in Bloomingdale and DC Reynolds in Petworth … Ashok Bajaj opened a second Bindaas in Foggy Bottom, at the Shops at 2000 Penn (2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW), where Johnny Rockets was. It seats 70, with 21 at the bar, and the menu and beverage list exceed those at the Cleveland Park location.
Rosslyn, Virginia, is getting a food hall at 1801 N. Lynn St., in a second-story space in Central Place, above McDonald’s. It will be operated by Social Restaurant Group, which owns Pamplona and Bar Bao in Clarendon and Provision No. 14 and The Prospect in D.C.’s U Street corridor. The group also runs La Vie, a French-themed restaurant and lounge, and Rival & Rye, a whiskey and sports bar, both at the Wharf. Other retail tenants in the Rosslyn food hall include Sweetgreen and The Little Beet. On the other side of the plaza, Compass Coffee and Cava Mezze plan to open.
Linda Roth is president of Linda Roth Associates, a public relations and marketing firm that specializes in the hospitality industry. Reach her at linda@lindarothpr.com.
